Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Salcha, Alaska, April 2024.

6 p.m., Brown Bear Bar.

Zhou Xin sat in a corner of the bar, quietly listening to the people around him chatting.

"My God, the price of gold has risen to over two thousand dollars per ounce!"

White-bearded Creek stared at the television screen, his face filled with disbelief.

"Yes, it's only been less than five years, and it's more than doubled!" Bemon exclaimed beside him.

"No wonder so many people have come here to pan for gold in the last two years. I heard that a new mine opened in Mount Katz not long ago," Creek said.

"In my opinion, he's just another bankrupt fool. There's a lot of gold in Alaska, but finding it isn't easy. Otherwise, wouldn't we all be billionaires by now?"

Bemon downed his beer in one gulp and then continued:

"Unless you have a nose like the 'Gold King' McDonald back in the day, that can smell gold."

Creek shook his head: "I don't think that's a good thing. Don't forget what happened to McDonald."

"Indeed, gold always drives people crazy," Bemon sighed.

At this moment, Deakin, the blond young man who had been listening to the two chatting, asked curiously, "Is McDonald the gold tycoon from over a hundred years ago?"

"That's right, he's a legend in Alaska!" Bemon replied.

"Can he really smell gold?" Deakin was somewhat skeptical.

"Absolutely true, otherwise how could he have gone from a poor miner to a multi-billionaire?"

Still somewhat skeptical, Deakin continued, "From what you just said, his end wasn't good?"

Whitebeard Creek chimed in, "That's right. He made a fortune with his 'Gold Smell' ability to smell gold, but he also incurred the envy and resentment of other gold prospectors."

When he was 40, he was kidnapped by a group of gold prospectors who had driven him to bankruptcy. They cut off his nose and burned his nostrils with a hot iron.

Although he was eventually rescued, he lost his sense of smell and could never smell gold again.

Deakin's eyes widened. Although he didn't believe that anyone in the world could actually smell gold, he was still shocked by McDonald's story.

"And then what happened to him?" he asked eagerly.

Crick chuckled, quite pleased with the young man's reaction.

Later, after his real estate investment in Los Angeles failed, he was unwilling to give up and returned to Alaska. He used his remaining assets to buy several large plots of land, hoping to replicate his former glory.

However, without the "smell of gold," he was unable to find any trace of gold underground.

He eventually went bankrupt and had to return to working as a miner, where he died in poverty in Colombia.

Hearing about the tragic end of the once-renowned "King of Gold," everyone sighed with sorrow.

Zhou Xin brought the Long Island Iced Tea in his hand to his nose and took a deep sniff, then sighed inwardly.

I still can't smell any aroma at all.

He lost his sense of smell after receiving his third Pfizer vaccine two years ago, just like McDonald who was being retaliated against.

Even in the dirtiest subways in New York, he couldn't smell a trace of odor.

Similarly, he couldn't smell any food aromas, making food taste like cardboard.

"At least I won't have any more obstacles to eating snail rice noodles and houttuynia cordata when I go back to China in the future," he thought to himself with a self-deprecating smile.

He has been in Alaska for eight years and has gradually gotten used to life here and fallen in love with this land.

The town of Salcha, where I now live, is located in northern Alaska, not far from Fairbanks.

The town has only a little over a thousand residents, which is less than a small residential community in China.

Winter is not yet over, and the town is still covered in snow, but the weather is gradually warming up.

In another month, the snow will melt, and this place will usher in a short warm season.

That was the time Zhou Xin looked forward to the most, when he could fish for giant Chinook salmon in the Salcha River.

As he stepped out of the Brown Bear Bar, the cold wind made him shrink his neck.

The town was deserted; all the shops were closed except for the Brown Bear Bar.

The cold weather makes the pace of life here very slow; even the supermarket is only open from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every day.

As for the diverse nightlife in China, forget about it.

Therefore, drinking, chatting, and watching football games at the Brown Bear Bar has become the only pastime for the town's residents after nightfall.

Zhou Xin walked along the street towards his residence, using the dim light of the street lamps as a guide.

He lived on the other side of the street, where the rent was $300 a month, which was considered cheap.

The melted snow from the daytime has frozen into a layer of ice on the streets, making it difficult to walk and easy to slip and fall.

As he walked, he suddenly felt an itch in his nose.

"Achoo!"

He sneezed, but still felt itchy.

He rubbed his frozen nose vigorously, which relieved the itching somewhat.

After walking a few more steps, he was startled and suddenly smelled a strange odor.

Although the smell was strange and he had never smelled it before, he didn't pay attention to it at the moment.

This was the first time he had smelled anything since he lost his sense of smell.

Could it be that my sense of smell is starting to return?

He tried to twitch his nose to let more of the smell into his nostrils to confirm that it wasn't a hallucination.

"Great! My sense of smell has really returned!" Zhou Xin shouted excitedly in his heart.

After smelling it for a while, he finally noticed that the smell was strange.

It is indeed a strange taste, neither fragrant nor foul, somewhat similar to the taste of licking rusty nails when we were kids, but not exactly the same.

He followed the path of the flavor, searching for its source.

Finally, he stopped in front of a shop that was already closed.

He looked up at the shop's name and was immediately stunned.

Lucy's Jewelry Store.

In the glass window next to the shop, there are some exquisite jewelry and gold ornaments on display.

He brought his nose close to the shop window, making a final confirmation.

When the nose is brought close to the gold jewelry, the strange smell becomes very strong.

Zhou Xin's heart pounded, and his breathing became rapid.

This smells like gold!

Logically speaking, the shop window should be completely sealed on all sides, and thick tempered glass should be used to prevent zero-dollar purchases.

In this situation, the smell inside should be difficult to dissipate.

However, the scent of gold emanated from the shop window as if it were unhindered.

The scent of gold!

I've actually awakened the ability of the Golden Scent!

Zhou Xin was overjoyed, but in his excitement he slipped and fell to the ground.

But he felt no pain at all, and his face was full of excitement.

In China, this ability would be almost useless, since even if gold were found, it would have to be handed over to the authorities.

He recalled that someone had previously used a magnetic rod to attract iron sand in the Yellow River and was subsequently told that they had committed the crime of illegal mining.

But this is Alaska, where as long as the paperwork is complete, any gold you find belongs to you.

And this land contains a huge amount of gold.

Even though the gold rush is long over, countless people still come here with dreams of striking it rich overnight.

Of course, most of them end up losing everything.

To make a lot of money by panning for gold, one must invest a lot of machinery and manpower, and cultivate a sufficiently large mining area.

This is clearly an adventure, and a high-stakes gamble.

As for lone gold panners who pan by hand, it's basically just for fun. Even if they're lucky enough to actually find gold, they can only earn a little pocket money.

However, this applies to ordinary people.

Now, Zhou Xin can already smell the gold.

With the "smell of gold," one can easily find gold deposits along streams or gold-rich soil layers.

Even the most sophisticated exploration cannot be more accurate than his.

In this way, even if he pans for gold by hand all by himself, he will definitely find a lot of gold!